Essential Tidbits on Tempura Endo, Opening January in Beverly Hills

Tempura Endo might be the first notable high-end tempura specialist to open in Los Angeles for many years. Though a similar omakase-style place existed in Little Tokyo called Thousand Cranes in the past, Endo is a new production from a well-known Kyoto outlet taking shape in the heart of Beverly Hills.

Here now, some essential facts about Tempura Endo, which is slated to open some time in early January in the Golden Triangle.

1. The place boasts just 16 seats, which means every diner will have a high-end, tailored experience.

2. Tempura is prepared to order and individually, much like you would get at an expensive sushi restaurant. A place like this also opened this year in New York City called Tempura Matsui, and prices there run about $200 per person.

3. No word on the exact pricing here at Tempura Endo in Beverly Hills, but don't expect it to be cheap. At the original Endo in Kyoto, the highest dinner kaiseki menu runs 150,000 yen, which translates to about $120 dollars.

4. Everything is fried in three kinds of oil: cottonseed, tieback sesame seed oil, and safflower oil. That means all the tempura will be extraordinary light instead of laden with grease.

5. The style of tempura hails from Kyoto, the former Japanese capital. Instead of dunking tempura mindlessly in sauce, diners are supposed to judiciously pair the fried delicacies in a custom sauce. Either that or the chef will just sprinkle on salt for a final seasoning instead of a liquid sauce.